I am currently re-reading Morrigan's Cross, by Nora Roberts. This is the first in the Circle trilogy, and I remember that my first impression when I read it the last time was that some amateur was writing under the Nora Roberts name. I've read through some reviews on Amazon and it is very clear that I am not the only person who holds this opinion of the novel. It seemed that she was making an effort to borrow Anne Rice's style, steal some of the thrill of the current paranormal romance trend, and then pulling it all off... badly.
It was difficult to like Hoyt or Glenna the first time that I read their story. I found both of them pitifully boring and the romantic threads between them weak, at best. It was very difficult to force myself to read the second story in the series, though I am very glad that I chose to do it.
The problems with this book and the storytelling in it are rampant. Roberts hops from head to head at the speed of light, coming across as very amateurish (think Rowling in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) and inconsiderate of the reader. Not many readers, particularly of romantic fiction, want to hop around in the heads of the characters. God perspective isn't enjoyable for most readers.
I'm re-reading the story now and am finding the characterization a bit easier the second go-around because I know what's coming in the subsequent novels. That being said, this still is not one of Nora Roberts' best.
You can get more on my Morrigan's Cross review on Squidoo.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Twilight vs. True Blood Debate
I know I said ages ago that I was going to post something about this debate, and I just never really got around to doing it or to reviewing any of the books. The Southern Vampire Mysteries series got too long at some point, and I was reading the books so quickly that it seemed pointless to review each of them individually, though I think that now I know why I want to do that.
Anyway, this is the perfect place to have a good debate. You can hop onto the page and cast your vote for Twilight or Southern Vampire mysteries right there on the page, and engage other readers. It should be a lot of fun, and I do hope that you'll join in the fray!
Twilight vs. True Blood
In the meantime, I'm re-reading Twilight at the moment. It's interesting to read the series for the second time, since it seems so different, and a bit slower moving. I'm thinking I might need to go back to reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles as well. We have several first editions from the series. I'd love to have Mrs. Rice autograph them for me!
School term started today, so I probably won't be here as much as I'd like to be. I need to start doing some memes again. Any suggestions?
Anyway, this is the perfect place to have a good debate. You can hop onto the page and cast your vote for Twilight or Southern Vampire mysteries right there on the page, and engage other readers. It should be a lot of fun, and I do hope that you'll join in the fray!
Twilight vs. True Blood
In the meantime, I'm re-reading Twilight at the moment. It's interesting to read the series for the second time, since it seems so different, and a bit slower moving. I'm thinking I might need to go back to reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles as well. We have several first editions from the series. I'd love to have Mrs. Rice autograph them for me!
School term started today, so I probably won't be here as much as I'd like to be. I need to start doing some memes again. Any suggestions?
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Hunger Games Series of Reviews
Obviously you all remember that I already reviewed The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. It was the last post that I made to this site, in fact! Well, before coming back today anyway. Well, recently I got inspired to go back and re-review the whole series on Squidoo. I don't know what got me started except that I absolutely love this series!
So here goes. Let me start here, which is the "hub" of my wheel of Hunger Games pages:
I'm Back! At least for now!
Okay, first of all, folks, I'm here. Obviously I have not been for quite some time, and I apologize for my absence. There has been a lot going on in my life. I have started college and am attending Liberty University Online (great experience, am doing well and loving it!) and I haven't had as much time to read, let alone as much time to write. After this long, I doubt that there is anybody who is or was still concerned about my whereabouts, but, well, I'm here.
I have been doing some book reviews, but I have not been doing them here. Money has been a bit tight for us with me in school and I'm hoping to actually increase my income a bit by creating pages on Squidoo. It actually began to get exciting at the point at which I started to really make a few dollars here and there (after nearly two years as a member!). For me, logic dictated that I move my reviews there in the hopes that maybe I could actually, you know, earn a bit of cash.
I'm not reviewing as much as I was, but I do want to still be around here. I'll be doing the memes and passing off the links to the book reviews and related things that I'm doing on Squidoo. A lot of this is pure fun, and I hope that you will not only agree, but will join in with me!
I have been doing some book reviews, but I have not been doing them here. Money has been a bit tight for us with me in school and I'm hoping to actually increase my income a bit by creating pages on Squidoo. It actually began to get exciting at the point at which I started to really make a few dollars here and there (after nearly two years as a member!). For me, logic dictated that I move my reviews there in the hopes that maybe I could actually, you know, earn a bit of cash.
I'm not reviewing as much as I was, but I do want to still be around here. I'll be doing the memes and passing off the links to the book reviews and related things that I'm doing on Squidoo. A lot of this is pure fun, and I hope that you will not only agree, but will join in with me!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Book Review: The Hunger Games
Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Star Rating: 4.5/5
Network: Shelfari | Goodreads |
Buy: Amazon
My Summary: When Katniss Everdeen's little sister Primrose is selected to compete in the annual "Hunger Games," Katniss steps forward and volunteers to take Prim's place. She will have to compete against 23 other "players" to win the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live television, broadcast throughout the country.
My Review: If you have been following my reviews for any length of time, you know that I don't give out half stars. I'm a tough grader, and in fact, most books don't get a four, let alone a five star rating. However, I made an exception in this case. The book is incredible and very much worth the read.
I've read that The Hunger Games Trilogy is geared toward Twilight readers. I would argue that Suzanne Collins takes a combination of a couple of Stephen King's Bachman Books (specifically The Running Man and The Long Walk) and builds them into her Hunger Games.
The only reason I don't give The Hunger Games a full five stars is because I feel that Suzanne Collins didn't pull off the present tense narrative. The first person was believable, but the present tense could be jarring, as she went back and forth between past and present and it was, at times, confusing, even for an experienced and wide reader like myself.
Excellent novel!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
On My Wishlist (#1)
I haven't done this meme before and I'm not entirely sure why. I think that it might have had something to do with not wanting to tempt myself to buy more books that would just take up space on my TBR shelf, which is already way out of hand.
Interestingly, this week my wishlist books are both young adult books. I never used to read so much young adult fiction, but with the advent of book blogs I find myself becoming increasingly interested in them. There is a third book which is also surprising to me, but I really do want to read it!
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
From Goodreads:
"What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined."
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
From Goodreads:
"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
From Goodreads:
"Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place... or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives..."
Interestingly, this week my wishlist books are both young adult books. I never used to read so much young adult fiction, but with the advent of book blogs I find myself becoming increasingly interested in them. There is a third book which is also surprising to me, but I really do want to read it!
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
From Goodreads:
"What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined."
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
From Goodreads:
"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
From Goodreads:
"Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place... or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives..."
Here I Am!
Well. I haven't written here in quite a while and I suppose that it is unfair to my readers to have simply jumped off the face of the planet and not returned to at least explain where I've been.
For starters, I've been gone because I was reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I enjoyed the series (I'm current through book 9) but I thought that the writing was incredibly sub-par. Though I could detect the myriad ways in which Stephenie Meyer had taken ideas (and even names!) from Harris, I felt that Meyer simply did it better. There are countless inconsistencies in the books, and I am infuriated that I couldn't go from one book into the next without reading an "anthology" between the books. I always felt as though I was behind, and I couldn't give my favorite of the books (Dead and Gone) more than a three star rating. I have never run into such a poorly put together series that was this popular.
At some point, probably after the final book has been written and then read by me, I will review the entire series as a whole. I simply found it tedious to try to do the books one book at a time, considering that sitting down to review them emphasized how poorly written they really were. Once I'm done with this series, I will definitely not be reading anything more by Charlaine Harris.
In addition, I recently began college. I am currently majoring only in English though I plan to add history. I am working on my own novel (much more slowly than I had planned) and trying to take care of a household. I've been busy, but that isn't enough for me to abandon all of you, and I'm sorry.
I will be back immediately doing memes and book reviews of novels that I am reading. I will update the "currently reading" as soon as I pick up a book for pleasure.
Thanks to all of you who have continued to follow in spite of my absence. I appreciate you!
For starters, I've been gone because I was reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I enjoyed the series (I'm current through book 9) but I thought that the writing was incredibly sub-par. Though I could detect the myriad ways in which Stephenie Meyer had taken ideas (and even names!) from Harris, I felt that Meyer simply did it better. There are countless inconsistencies in the books, and I am infuriated that I couldn't go from one book into the next without reading an "anthology" between the books. I always felt as though I was behind, and I couldn't give my favorite of the books (Dead and Gone) more than a three star rating. I have never run into such a poorly put together series that was this popular.
At some point, probably after the final book has been written and then read by me, I will review the entire series as a whole. I simply found it tedious to try to do the books one book at a time, considering that sitting down to review them emphasized how poorly written they really were. Once I'm done with this series, I will definitely not be reading anything more by Charlaine Harris.
In addition, I recently began college. I am currently majoring only in English though I plan to add history. I am working on my own novel (much more slowly than I had planned) and trying to take care of a household. I've been busy, but that isn't enough for me to abandon all of you, and I'm sorry.
I will be back immediately doing memes and book reviews of novels that I am reading. I will update the "currently reading" as soon as I pick up a book for pleasure.
Thanks to all of you who have continued to follow in spite of my absence. I appreciate you!
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